Handwritten Address Identification

Handwritten address identification research began at CEDAR in 1987 through
funding from the United States Postal Service (USPS). The objective was to
automate mail sorting through a system that could read a handwritten street
address and ZIP code and encode each envelope with the destination address for
machine sorting.

This research ultimately led to the development and deployment of system that automates
mail sorting through image analysis, digit recognition, word recognition, postal directory
lookup, and a barcode assignment that designates the destination address. Since
field-testing began in 1996, the Handwritten Address Interpretation System (HWAI) has
been implemented at all USPS mail processing centers.

Handwriting address interpretation technology has also been developed for address recognition systems for the United Kingdom's Royal Mail and the Australia Post.